Taken in the Summer of 2008
DAILY PHOTO: The Steep Wall of China
Reply
Author Archives: B Gourley
Viennese Limerick
There was a lovely lass from Vienna
who couldn’t attend balls without a duenna.
Men wooed like gangbusters,
but dad didn’t trust her.
So, her’s was the meanest duenna in Vienna.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
POEM: Ode to the Sun [Sonnet]
We are always eight minutes to midnight,
saved only by that blazing fire, the sun.
Everything dark is thrown into its light,
exposed at speeds that cannot be outrun.
Its warmth still radiates on darkest night.
When covers have been pulled up to the cheek,
its heat still lingers, staving off frostbite,
and trickling drops under the frozen creek.
When sands are burning under tender feet,
and sweat is dripping from one’s flesh and hair,
and even when we curse the brutal heat,
we still prefer that you remain right there.
You’ve got just five billion years left to fire,
I hope someone’ll be sad when you expire.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
DAILY PHOTO: Taken from the Wat Chalong Pagoda, Phuket
Taken from the Wat Chalong Pagoda (Phuket) in January of 2015
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
POEM: Mental Weather
My mind experiences unforecastable weather.
Adrift in horse latitudes
Tortured by a polar vortex
Low pressure systems
to
High pressure systems
Storm fronts & storm surges
Partly sunny / partly cloudy
or
Partly cloudy / partly sunny
[Depending upon whether I’m in a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty kind of mood.]
Lightening strikes
Wind shear / wind chill / wind chimes
Squalls
Droughts, often followed by flash flooding
Breezes, blizzards, and breezy blizzards
Microbursts
Flood crests
Nor’easters
Due points and do points [if not a dew point]
Topical depression — though no tropical depressions
Hail storms
Sun Dogs & rainbows
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
BOOK REVIEW: Functional Training Anatomy by Kevin Carr & Mary Kate Feit
Functional Training Anatomy by Kevin Carr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Exercise regimens that improve the body’s ability to coordinate movements in order to carry out particular actions relevant to the exerciser’s life have increasingly come to be valued in recent years. (Traditionally, fitness regimens often focused on one muscle / body part at a time without an eye toward whether the strengthened muscles worked well together when applied to the required motion – or sometimes regimens focused entirely on how the muscles look.) This book is designed to show muscle activation for a wide range of functional fitness training exercises. It is one volume in a series of anatomy for sports / exercise books put out by the publisher, Human Kinetics.
Each exercise under discussion features an anatomical cut-away drawing showing the muscles that are working, as well as a list of the primary and secondary muscles, a diagram showing which planes are being worked in during the exercise, a step-by-step description of how each exercise is performed, and a brief discussion of what functionality is improved by doing the exercise in question — always with a supporting drawing of a relevant action / motion. Some of the exercises offer a variation.
The book consists of nine chapters. The first chapter gives an overview of what functional training is (and how it contrasts with other approaches,) and provides the necessary background to understand the exercises explanations (e.g. the planes of the body,) the rationale for what exercises are included, and what must be kept in mind with this approach to exercise. Chapters two through five look at various types of exercise, besides strengthening exercises. These include: mobility / flexibility exercises (ch. 2,) motor control / movement preparation exercises (ch. 3,) plyometric exercises and kettle-ball (ch. 4,) and power exercises using heavy weights (ch 5.) Chapters six through eight focus on strength exercises by body part: upper body (ch. 6,) lower body (ch. 7,) and core / rotational strength (ch. 8.) The last chapter provides advice on how to put a program of functional training together.
The book doesn’t include much ancillary matter. The front matter consists of a brief preface, and the back matter provides an “exercise finder,” a detailed index to find the desired exercise rapidly. [The latter has a nice feature. It includes a drawing of the exercise. That’s useful because exercise names, while prosaically descriptive, can often be confusing (e.g. what two trainers call a “hip extension” may vary, though they will both no doubt feature extension of the hip joint in some way.)] There is a page for those who are using the book for Continuing Education (CE) credit that explains what resources are available.
I found this book to be beneficial and educational. I learned a few new exercises, and was provided with some interesting food for thought. The drawings are clear, both in their representation of the exercise and the anatomical cutaways. If you are looking for information on functional training, particularly which discusses muscle activation, I’d recommend you give this book a look.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
DAILY PHOTO: Machu Picchu from a Distance
Taken in the summer of 2010 from the trail to Inti Punku (The Sun Gate.)
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
BOOK REVIEW: Introducing Ethics: A Graphic Guide by Dave Robinson [Ill. by Chris Garratt]
Introducing Ethics: A Graphic Guide by Dave Robinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is one title in the “A Graphic Guide” series of books, many of which (including this one) are available on Amazon Prime. The books in the series explain fundamentals for a wide range of academic subjects, using simple descriptions supported by graphics. This particular book examines the philosophy of ethics and morality.
The book consists of a large number (almost 130) short topical sections, each with supporting graphics. Each section is just a page or two in length. The book has a chronological flow, moving from Socrates through the Postmodern philosophers. The nature of the topics varies, sometimes it is the view of a particular philosopher or school of philosophy, sometimes it’s a fundamental question or point of contention, and sometimes it’s a specific ethical issue. The last twenty-ish statements elaborate on two specific cases that the book addresses in detail: animal rights and euthanasia.
I felt the author did a good job of laying out a number of fault lines, controversies at the heart of differing views of ethics. The controversy that gets the most attention is that between absolutists and relativists. (Absolutists claim there are a set of core moral rules that are universally applicable, while relativists say one can’t make such rules because the morality of every action is relative, be it: situationally, culturally, or individually. An extreme view from either perspective is inconsistent with what one tends to sees in the real world.) A second point of contention regards whether ethical constraints are determined at the individual level or the societal / tribal / group level? A third controversy consists of a subjectivity versus objectivity divide – i.e. is morality just about what feels right or is there an objective way of defining moral knowledge? A significant portion of the book deals with the rivalries about these points, and – to a lesser degree – others (e.g. is biology the root of ethics or is it a domain devoid of ethics?)
There are cartoon drawings with most of the sections that illustrate key points, and / or depict interactions between rival philosophers. There is a “further reading” section in the back that suggests books to expand one’s grasp of the subject beyond the bare fundamentals that are addressed in this book.
I thought this book did a good job of laying out the issues. The cases (animal rights and euthanasia) helped show how different schools of thought apply their ideas to specific questions. I particularly enjoyed how the book clarified the subject through discussion of key questions of contention. If you have Amazon Prime, it’s definitely worth checking this one out. If not, you may want to see how it compares to the “A Very Short Introduction” guide for Oxford University Press, which is a similar series that explains the basics of a subject in a concise fashion.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
POEM: Leprechaun
I think I saw a Leprechaun,
but it could’ve been a deer.
It seemed quite mean, and was a bit green,
but I’d had a keg of beer.
Share on Facebook, Twitter, Email, etc.
DAILY PHOTO: Chocolate Hills [Not at Their Most Chocolaty]
Taken in December of 2017 on Bohol in the Philippines
